While the deadline is approaching, the Kansas City Chiefs have agreed to a four-year contract extension with defensive tackle Chris Jones, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen.
Schefter noted the deal is worth $85 million with $60 million guaranteed.
The Chiefs placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on Jones in March, guaranteeing him $16.1 million for the upcoming season. He and Kansas City have until 4 p.m. ET Wednesday to finalize a long-term contract. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
What I'd like to see, though it won't happen, is a firmly average off-ball linebacker who can come in on a reasonable deal and allow us to just rip the band-aid off on Hitchens. I understand that there would be no immediate cap savings by cutting him but it would help a lot for next season to just get him off the books now.
Not sure there are any real alternatives out there, though.
I think that player is already there (Wilson), although he isn’t going to be used in that way I doubt.
I hate that this offseason is so limited because I think it will make it a real challenge to get great impact from Willie Gay. He should be our best ILB day one, but I’m not sure where the learning curve sits at this point. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
In 2023 no on is on the roster except Mahomes, Butkicker and Clark(could be released with minor cap hit). This present team is turned over.
I heard someone on tv make an excellent point regarding the Patriots.
Their '20 years of dominance' wasn't really 20 years. It was 5 years followed by 10 years of very good then another 5 years of dominance. Brady won all 6 of his rings in two 5-year chunks at the front and back of his Patriots tenure.
Well that may well happen here. As I've said before, Mahomes will be at the head of 3 or 4 different iterations of the KC Chiefs. Some of those iterations will be championship caliber - others will be teams with a puncher's chance because of they have Mahomes.
And I'm okay with that. Just know that the cupboard won't ALWAYS be this full. Kelce's and Hill's aren't in every draft and we won't always have the prescience to get them when they are... [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
What I'd like to see, though it won't happen, is a firmly average off-ball linebacker who can come in on a reasonable deal and allow us to just rip the band-aid off on Hitchens. I understand that there would be no immediate cap savings by cutting him but it would help a lot for next season to just get him off the books now.
Not sure there are any real alternatives out there, though.
Wasn't Hitch at least firmly average last year? He's overpaid but we still can't release him until next year at the earliest right? [Reply]
It's not easy to keep a stacked roster together in the NFL. Chiefs cap guru Brandt Tilis deserves a ton of credit for his work: it takes foresight, discipline, creativity and shrewd decision-making to make all this happen.
From NFL Now: How do you do a big-money deal in a pandemic? DT Chris Jones took no signing bonus and will make roughly the same in 2020 as he would've on the tag. The #Chiefs gave him a lot more guaranteed money. Smart work on both sides. pic.twitter.com/FhN0RjaHlK
Man - he'll have to have a MASSIVE year 3 number. Or two very big ones in year 2.
Because if he's got $60 million in guarantees and took no signing bonus, you have to figure those are going to be in the form of guaranteed salaries. If he didn't make much more in 20 than he'd have made under the tag, that's $17 million or so and you have $43 million to cover in years 2 and 3 (presuming year 4 to be the remaining $25 million in non-guaranteed money).
So $17, $21, $22 and $25?
That's a well compensated defensive line, now.
Gonna be tough to retain Fisher, Mathieu and Ward - gotta figure at least 2 of those guys will eventually be let go. They'll get something done with Kelce and Schwartz I'm sure. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Superturtle:
Now the question is did Veach create enough cap to go after one more difference maker or is he content where things stand now.
My gut tells me that there's at least one more move that Veach has up his sleeve. Not necessarily the biggest name guy but someone that's going to make a significant contribution to the team, probably on defense, probably a LB/DE. I was half-kidding a few months ago when I said that Veach was paying chess, but now I'm 100% confident that's exactly what he's doing. He had all of this planned, from Clark, Mahomes' deal, to Watkins, and now CJ.
And he's already figured out what this team is going to look like 5 years down the road. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Megatron96:
My gut tells me that there's at least one more move that Veach has up his sleeve. Not necessarily the biggest name guy but someone that's going to make a significant contribution to the team, probably on defense, probably a LB/DE. I was half-kidding a few months ago when I said that Veach was paying chess, but now I'm 100% confident that's exactly what he's doing. He had all of this planned, from Clark, Mahomes' deal, to Watkins, and now CJ.
And he's already figured out what this team is going to look like 5 years down the road.
Originally Posted by suzzer99:
Wasn't Hitch at least firmly average last year? He's overpaid but we still can't release him until next year at the earliest right?
Nah, you could release him this year - you'd just get ZERO cap relief. His dead money virtually matches his cap hit.
The benefit would not come until next season when he's a -0- on the balance sheet. Whereas if you cut him next season after keeping him this season, you'd have a dead cap figure for Hitchens in 2021 of $8.45 million. That's why I say you 'rip the band-aid off'. You're making a painful decision this season to make it much smoother next.
The majority of his pay comes in the way of base salary and none of his base salary is guaranteed. If he's not playing to that base, you're better served to move on sooner rather than later.
But if they don't have anyone that can give you a C level performance at his position, you just can't do it. You're hamstrung.
I'd imagine you could get Nigel Bradham on a vet min deal. Looks like Ogletree and Woodyard are still out there as well. Could you put the dot on Wilson and then rotate a couple guys like that around him based on situation w/ Gay getting increased reps as the season went along?
Risky - but that's the kind of thing the Chiefs will have to start doing in the next couple of years and they can get just a little ahead of things by doing it with Hitchens.
But like I said - they won't. Nate Taylor is of the mind that the Chiefs brass loves the guy and think he's indispensable on the mental side for the defense. I guess I'm not in the position to argue to the contrary. [Reply]
